Three men suspected of murdering Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan were arrested, the Emirati Ministry of Interior confirmed on Sunday.
The suspects, Olimpi Toirovich, 28, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28, and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33 are citizens of Uzbekistan.
In a statement, the ministry said investigations and legal proceedings were initiated against the men for murdering Kogan, who was a UAE resident. The statement also praised its security authorities for quickly detaining the suspects who attempted to “undermine the safety and stability of the UAE community.”
Photos released by the ministry show the men handcuffed and blindfolded.
Kogan, 28, a Moldovan and Israeli citizen, was last seen alive in Dubai on Thursday. Over the weekend, his body was discovered in Al Ain, a city near the Oman border and approximately 90 minutes from Dubai.
Kogan worked as an emissary for the Jewish group Chabad, by helping to support religious life for Jewish visitors and residents. He worked with the Chabad in Abu Dhabi and ran a kosher grocery store in Dubai.
The UAE has had a spike in Jewish and Israeli visitors since the establishment of formal ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020. The act of suspected terrorism may have been targeted at threatening the stability of the Abraham Accords.
The White House National Security Council said the murder was also a crime against supporters of peace.
“Our prayers are with his family, the Chabad-Lubavitch community, the broader Jewish community and all who are mourning his loss,” said Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council. “This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence. It was an assault as well on UAE and its rejection of violent extremism across the board.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called the murder an anti-Semitic terrorist attack and said that the Jewish state will seek justice against those who dispatched the three men.
“This murder of an Israeli citizen and a Chabad emissary, is an abhorrent antisemitic terrorist attack,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will use all means, and will deal with these murderers, and those who dispatched them, to the fullest extent of the law. None of them will get away.”
Israel has information that Kogan may have been under Iranian surveillance, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The chairman of Chabad, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, called upon governments around the world to protect their local Chabads.
“It is incumbent upon the authorities of every country where Chabad representatives serve in good faith, to ensure that terror finds no haven within its borders. The targeting of Rabbi Kogan was an attempt to destroy the sacred Jewish values that he represented: light, goodness and kindness,” he said. “No country, no community, no society can afford the loss of these sustaining values.”
Krinsky added that Kogan was “kidnapped and murdered in cold blood while serving the Jewish community in the UAE.”
As of Monday afternoon, more than $630,00 was raised to support Kogan’s widow, who he married in 2022. Kogan’s wife is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife Rikvah who were murdered by Islamic terrorists in Mumbai, India in 2008.
Kogan’s funeral took place Monday evening in Kfar Chabad, Israel.
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[[{“value”:”
Three men suspected of murdering Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan were arrested, the Emirati Ministry of Interior confirmed on Sunday.
The suspects, Olimpi Toirovich, 28, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim, 28, and Azizbek Kamlovich, 33 are citizens of Uzbekistan.
In a statement, the ministry said investigations and legal proceedings were initiated against the men for murdering Kogan, who was a UAE resident. The statement also praised its security authorities for quickly detaining the suspects who attempted to “undermine the safety and stability of the UAE community.”
Photos released by the ministry show the men handcuffed and blindfolded.
Kogan, 28, a Moldovan and Israeli citizen, was last seen alive in Dubai on Thursday. Over the weekend, his body was discovered in Al Ain, a city near the Oman border and approximately 90 minutes from Dubai.
Kogan worked as an emissary for the Jewish group Chabad, by helping to support religious life for Jewish visitors and residents. He worked with the Chabad in Abu Dhabi and ran a kosher grocery store in Dubai.
The UAE has had a spike in Jewish and Israeli visitors since the establishment of formal ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020. The act of suspected terrorism may have been targeted at threatening the stability of the Abraham Accords.
The White House National Security Council said the murder was also a crime against supporters of peace.
“Our prayers are with his family, the Chabad-Lubavitch community, the broader Jewish community and all who are mourning his loss,” said Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council. “This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence. It was an assault as well on UAE and its rejection of violent extremism across the board.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called the murder an anti-Semitic terrorist attack and said that the Jewish state will seek justice against those who dispatched the three men.
“This murder of an Israeli citizen and a Chabad emissary, is an abhorrent antisemitic terrorist attack,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel will use all means, and will deal with these murderers, and those who dispatched them, to the fullest extent of the law. None of them will get away.”
Israel has information that Kogan may have been under Iranian surveillance, according to The Jerusalem Post.
The chairman of Chabad, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, called upon governments around the world to protect their local Chabads.
“It is incumbent upon the authorities of every country where Chabad representatives serve in good faith, to ensure that terror finds no haven within its borders. The targeting of Rabbi Kogan was an attempt to destroy the sacred Jewish values that he represented: light, goodness and kindness,” he said. “No country, no community, no society can afford the loss of these sustaining values.”
Krinsky added that Kogan was “kidnapped and murdered in cold blood while serving the Jewish community in the UAE.”
As of Monday afternoon, more than $630,00 was raised to support Kogan’s widow, who he married in 2022. Kogan’s wife is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife Rikvah who were murdered by Islamic terrorists in Mumbai, India in 2008.
Kogan’s funeral took place Monday evening in Kfar Chabad, Israel.
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